How do I reinstall SP3 in XP?

GunJack

or you could get a larger hdd, and use macrium reflect to image then restore the C; drive, and then copy over all your other files.....

poppellerant

Rather than installing Windows XP, then SP3 and the updates that go into between, why not slipstream SP3 to your current Windows XP installation files, burn that to CD and install Windows XP SP3? After that's installed, you would only need the the updates after SP3 - rather than downloading SP3 after installation.

I highly suspect that 9.23 GB is the total usage of all data. To find out the size of your drive, go to the Start Menu > Right-click My Computer and choose Manage. On the left hand side, click Disk Management - now look on the right hand side, and it will tell you the size of each disk, and how much each drive takes up from that disk.

In your position, I would install Windows XP with SP3 already slipstreamed. Delete all partitions, and split the drive so you can have your data (such as documents, pictures, music) on and Windows and program files on C:.

Kernel_Sanders

poppellerant wrote: »

I highly suspect that 9.23 GB is the total usage of all data.

Not sure if you are disputing my post #21, but I think it is consistent with this....



Why is it showing C:\ as healthy when XP needs at least 200MB of free space to operate properly?

poppellerant

Sorry, I thought that was showing 9.23 GB of data, because it seemed so low - but wow, things are a bit tight on that harddrive, aren't they? :eek: The harddrive look like a 20 GB drive (unformatted), split into three partitions. I think it showing the drive's hardware health, rather than the health of the files system.

I can see quite of bit in your system tray, which leads me to suspect there are perhaps unnecessary programs installed. After Windows has finished loading, what is loaded in the system tray?

Do you use hibernation? If not, I would turn it off - it is consuming nearly 10% of the C: drive. Start menu > Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernation > uncheck Enable Hibernation. Reboot.

I would very seriously consider a new harddrive. Nothing like 500 GB, but 80 GB would be a much needed improvement than what you have already! When a drive is full like that, the wear and tear of the drive finding new space. and fragmenting files so they fit, will drastically shorten the lifespan of it.

If Windows seems to be running fine, other than the issue of freespace, disable System Restore to try and claw back some much needed space.

One other program to try, is BleachBit - I find it is often more thorough than CCleaner, but read and understand all the options before you tick them.

Kernel_Sanders

poppellerant wrote: »

Do you use hibernation? If not, I would turn it off - it is consuming nearly 10% of the C: drive. Start menu > Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernation > uncheck Enable Hibernation. Reboot.

I would very seriously consider a new harddrive. Nothing like 500 GB, but 80 GB would be a much needed improvement than what you have already! When a drive is full like that, the wear and tear of the drive finding new space. and fragmenting files so they fit, will drastically shorten the lifespan of it.

I'm a bit of an environmentalist (hence the solar PV) so I don't tend to replace things if still serviceable.
I did turn off hibernation a few months ago, but found that whatever is eating my C drive consumed the lot within weeks. So I had to shift files to the recovery drive (is that safe?) to regain hibernation ability.

TakeThis

With the amount of time that you have wasted on this, you could have done the fresh install of Windows XP SP3.... in less than a couple of hours.

Then you would be sure that you had a clean install.

Kernel_Sanders

TakeThis wrote: »

With the amount of time that you have wasted on this, you could have done the fresh install of Windows XP SP3.... in less than a couple of hours.

Did you miss this reply?

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

From what I've read, reinstalling Windows takes like a whole afternoon and is potentially disastrous for somebody technically challenged (like me!).

TakeThis wrote: »

Then you would be sure that you had a clean install.

As I would with a simple return to factory settings. I will have to go through all the docs sooner or later anyway to see what I can discard.

poppellerant

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

I'm a bit of an environmentalist (hence the solar PV) so I don't tend to replace things if still serviceable.
I did turn off hibernation a few months ago, but found that whatever is eating my C drive consumed the lot within weeks. So I had to shift files to the recovery drive (is that safe?) to regain hibernation ability.

I bet it was System Restore, making use of the available space!

The simplest way of doing a back up, is using some software such as Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image or DriveImage XML, and make a complete image of the complete harddrive and all partitions. Once backed up, restore the computer, and access the image to copy back across any files you need. That way you have a full backup, should anything go wrong!

It's best not to meddle around too much with the restore drive. These are often made invisible to the end-user, to prevent viruses and accidental deletion of necessary files.

TakeThis

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

Did you miss this reply?


As I would with a simple return to factory settings. I will have to go through all the docs sooner or later anyway to see what I can discard.

No, I didn't. A clean Install with a Medion XP SP3 disc would take perhaps forty minutes. Drivers, another ten to fifteen minutes.

It's the updating that takes the time, but you don't need to sit there whilst it's updating.

Kernel_Sanders

poppellerant wrote: »

It's best not to meddle around too much with the restore drive.

Are you referring to System Restore, or the restoration to factory state? (Edit: just realized you meant the recovery drive.) I have one restore point in April (yesterday, installed iso recorder.) The arrow icon for previous month does not work; does this mean there are no other points stored?

I have also deleted more docs off C drive and suspended hibernation, so was able to do a defrag. Does anyone want to see the report?